The ZIMBABWE Situation Our thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe
- may peace, truth and justice prevail.
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Washington Post

Who will speak for Zimbabwe's blacks?



Nat Hentoff

     With all the continuing attention to human-rights horror stories around
the world, there has been only slight attention to the sufferings of the
black citizens of Zimbabwe, ruled by Robert Mugabe.
     The United Nations' World Food Program reported on Nov. 30 that food
shortages in Zimbabwe are so severe that half the population - more than 6
million people - will be in acute need of food by March. But Andrew Natsios,
the administrator for the United States Agency for International
Development, testified before Congress in August:
     "We now have confirmed reports in a number of areas in the most
severely affected region of the country, which is the south, that food is
being distributed to people who are members of Mr. Mugabe's political party
and is not being distributed based on need. The children of opposition party
members have been driven away from school supplementary feeding programs in
rural areas."
     In September, Adotei Akwei, Africa Advocacy director of Amnesty
International U.S.A., told The New York Times that "people have been
detained and tortured. In (Zimbabwe) now, literally, no one's safety and
security is guaranteed if there is even the slightest doubt of support for
President Mugabe."
     The Amani Trust in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, monitors and treats
black citizens of that country who have been tortured or otherwise punished
as enemies of the state. Tony Reeler, clinical director of the Amani Trust -
which is supported by the U.N. Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture and the
Swedish Red Cross - told Christina Lamb in the Aug. 25 Sunday Telegraph in
London:
     "We're seeing an enormous prevalence of rape and enough cases to say
it's being used by the state as a political tool, with women and girls being
raped because they are the wives, girlfriends or daughters of political
activists. There are also horrific cases of girls as young as 12 or 13 being
taken off to militia camps, used and abused and kept in forced concubinage.
But I suspect, as with Bosnia, the real extent of what is happening is going
to take a hell of a long time to come out."
     Passed by Mr. Mugabe's controlled parliament, the Public Order and
Security Act was enacted this past January. As described by the Lawyers
Committee for Human Rights in New York and Washington, the act makes it "an
offence to make a public statement with the intention to, or knowing there
is a risk of 'undermining the authority of or insulting' the president. This
prohibition includes statements likely to engender 'feelings of hostility
toward the president.'"
     In October, Sandra Nyaira, former political editor of The Daily News in
Zimbabwe, received this year's International Women's Media Foundation
Courage in Journalism Award in New York. Accepting it, she said that "day in
and day out, journalists in Zimbabwe work without knowing what the future
holds for them - could it be a bomb? Could you be thrown behind bars for
being too critical?" Many have been arrested.
     Yet, in November, The New York Times reported that "the South African
foreign minister, Dr. Nkosazana Zuma, said it was time for Western nations
to consider ending penalties they imposed on Zimbabwe. South Africa hailed
Zimbabwe's presidential election in March as legitimate, even though
officials eliminated polling stations in opposition strongholds, and the
police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of people who were waiting to
vote."
     Where is Nelson Mandela, who fought so long and courageously for
democracy in South Africa? Where, in this country, are women's groups; the
black and white clergy that organized against slavery and gang rapes by
government militia in Sudan; editorial writers; and the clamorous
commentators on cable television? Where is Jesse Jackson?
     Zimbabwe, mind you, is a member of the Untied Nations Human Rights
Commission, seated comfortably with such other proudly undemocratic regimes
as Syria, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Libya and Sudan. But then, remember that the
United Nations ignored genocide in Rwanda, as did President Bill Clinton.
Well, at least Mr. Mugabe has yet to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
     I have yet to hear of any demonstrations on American college campuses
to help children in Zimbabwe who are going hungry because their parents are
in the wrong political party - or to protest against the girls and women
being raped for political reasons.


Nat Hentoff is a columnist for The Washington Times. His column runs on
Mondays.
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BBC
 
Monday, 23 December, 2002, 11:56 GMT
Bleak Christmas in Zimbabwe
Zimbabweans queue for food outside a store in Harare
In towns, people now queue daily for basic food
BBC News Online publishes a letter from Harare resident Jonah Gokova to his brother in the UK, in which he describes his Christmas preparations.

Dear Fungai,

As we approach Christmas I know you are full of anxieties about spending your first Christmas away from home.

Without the family, I hope you will still have a wonderful Christmas in the UK.

For us in Zimbabwe, this will probably the worst Christmas since we achieved our national independence 22 years ago.

I have promised many friends and relatives that they can expect a loaf of bread from me as a Christmas present

Our traditional understanding of Christmas is that it is an occasion when we think of the Lord Jesus Christ and how through him, humanity has experienced the greatest gift of all.

It is through Jesus Christ that we have experienced life in its fullness.

I am afraid that the message of "fullness of life" does not make sense for us in Zimbabwe today.

Let me share with you how I am preparing to spend Christmas without you.

First of all, I have to prepare a shopping list of things that are essential to Christmas.

Christmas walk

I am mindful of the over-commercialisation of Christmas and my preparations for Christmas have always been modest.

The current level of inflation (at 175.5%) has already made life unbearable for many people in this country even before we talk about Christmas.

Schoolchildren getting food aid
In rural areas, people queue for food aid

A high level of inflation is one thing but the real problem is that basic commodities are just not available.

Long queues are now the order of the day.

We spend long hours queuing for bread, salt, sugar, soft drinks, paraffin, petrol, diesel etc.

Only two days ago I joined a petrol queue at 9:45pm and only got to the pump at 5:30am.

At least I left with a full tank to justify my absence from home for the whole night.

And if this full tank runs out, I might be forced to walk 14km to church on Christmas Day.

Not 'merry'

We have not had bread at home for the last week.

I stopped taking sugar many years ago but those who must have their tea with sugar are in trouble.

Robert Mugabe
Mugabe blames colonialism for Zimbabwe's problems

There is no sugar in the shops.

One has to be prepared to join the queue and that might mean spending many hours under the hot sun.

I have promised many friends and relatives that they can expect a loaf of bread from me as a Christmas present.

The scarcity of bread has made this commodity so valuable to qualify for a Christmas present.

The many relatives and friends you know who always spend Christmas at their rural homes will not be able to enjoy that pleasure this Christmas.

Fuel is in serious short supply, constantly forcing travel costs upwards.

Mother, brother and sisters are doing well under the conditions.

But for all of us, this is just Christmas. It will not be a "merry" Christmas.

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The day after our return to Keep Harare Untidy, the waterless city without
lights, we had one of the most upsetting experiences either of us have known
in years. That day put into perpective for us the picture of ordinary people
starving or at best making ends meet.

A neighbour asked us if we could take her elderly parents up to Bon Marche
in Borrowdale for pensioners day, when the oldies can get a 10% discount on
their shopping up to Z$10000, as she was working and they struggle to drive.
We took them up in their car and parked under the huge watchtower that
overlooks the car park and looks as though it purloined from the armoury at
Llewellyn Barracks. Security guards are everywhere, outnumbered only by the
thieves. These folk retired 20-odd years ago from fairly senior civil
service posts and would be regarded as fairly well off a couple of years
ago. They suggested we wander round the shops and leave them in Bon Marche
for about an hour, which we did.

My wife immediately went into female mode, buying shoes for £2, a hat for
£1.50 and eyeing up enough goods to fill 13 suitcases. I failed in my
quest to find some size 8 vellies (£2.20 and out of stock).

An hour later we sauntered back to the supermarket and had our eyes opened
wide.

The madala meddem next door, aged 86, was sitting having her free cup of
coffee. Next to her was a large green supermarket trolley. As we chatted I
peered into the depths of the trolley and tears welled up in my eyes. Lying
in the bottom of this ginormous trolley was a small packet of mince, 60
teabags, a 500g packet of powdered milk, 2 small blocks of stork margarine
and one loaf of bread. Their top-notch civil service pension amounts to
approx Z$20000 a month, and although their family send some money in from
abroad, this was all they could afford to buy for the week. They try to grow
their own vegetables but these are often stolen just before they are ready.
We looked around the shop, wanting to get them a small gift of some meat or
something, but there was no beef, no pork, no chicken; just a few bits of
manky looking mutton and some goats meat. Plenty of imported biscuits, but
not for these folk at $500-1000 a packet. Baked beans $460 a can, whisky
$18000 a bottle, beers $240 + deposit, milk unobtainable.

If any of you still have elderly relatives living in Zim, I'd suggest you
consider finding ways to get a little money to them, because every week
those prices seem to go up by about 20%, and their pensions don't.
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'Zanu-PF Has No Intention of Engaging MDC in Talks'



The Herald (Harare)

December 23, 2002
Posted to the web December 23, 2002

Harare

ZANU-PF national chairman Cde John Nkomo has reiterated that the ruling
party has no intention of engaging the MDC in talks to discuss the country's
problems.

In an interview yesterday, Cde Nkomo said the assertions by MDC leader Mr
Morgan Tsvangirai that the British were working with the Zimbabwean and
South African governments to arrange a meeting between him and President
Mugabe should be dismissed by all right- thinking Zimbabweans.

"President Mugabe cannot organise anything with the British. We have nothing
to learn from the British. The British Labour Party has said that it will
not be bound by the Lancaster House agreement so we also have nothing to do
with them," said Cde Nkomo.

He said the ruling party would not dialogue with MDC because it was not a
locally brewed party but was a creation of the British who also funded it.

Cde Nkomo, who is also the Minister for Special Affairs in the President's
Office, said the British created the party and installed a black puppet
leadership led by Mr Tsvangirai with the sole aim of toppling the Government
of President Mugabe.

Commenting on the commemoration of national Unity Day, Cde Nkomo said the
accord between Zanu-PF and PF-Zapu created a conducive environment that
promotes development and national cohesion.

He said as parties that waged the liberation struggle, Zanu-PF and PF-Zapu
saw it fit to lead the process of national unity.

Cde Nkomo said the accord signed by President Mugabe and the late
Vice-President Joshua Nkomo was a local initiative carried out without any
outside influence.

"Zimbabweans should know that they are Zimbabweans first before anything
else. Zimba-bweans should do everything in their power to sustain the unity,
defend our sovereignty and develop the country," he said.

Unity Day was this year marked by a gala at the Great Zimbabwe monuments in
Masvingo on Saturday night. Dubbed "On Solid Ground", the gala was broadcast
live to the nation by ZBC.

The gala was attended by chiefs and senior Government and ruling party
officials who were treated to drama, song and dance by various artists.
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BBC
 
Monday, 23 December, 2002, 11:21 GMT
Zimbabwe runs short of banknotes
500 Zimbabwe dollars
The largest denominated banknote is worth 33 US cents
After years shortages of fuel and basic commodities, Zimbabwean's now face a lack of banknotes, the state-run Herald newspaper has reported.

The paper said queues outside banks and cash machines were now as common-place as at petrol stations and supermarkets.

Bank officials said reserves of the 500 Zimbabwe dollar note - the largest denomination worth about 33 US cents - had run out due to high demand before the Christmas break.

Zimbabwe has failed to control runaway inflation and the black market currency exchange rate is about Z$1,500 to the dollar compared with the official rate of Z$55 to the dollar.

The newspaper also said the lack of foreign currency reserves meant the government could not import paper to print new banknotes.

Economic trouble

Zimbabwe is in the grip of its worst economic crisis since the end of white rule 22 years ago.

Official inflation, calculated on a limited basket of goods, is 175% but the rate is probably much higher due to the black market which is outside the government's price controls.

President Robert Mugabe's land redistribution policies have been blamed by many analysts for the economic crisis.

About half the population reportedly face starvation in the coming months after government seizures of commercial farms caused a steep fall in production in what was once known as the bread basket of Africa.

Zambian trade

One bit of good news was the lifting of a ban on cheap Zimbabwean imports by Zambia on Sunday.

Zambia had been overrun with cheap goods by traders using US dollars to buying in Zimbabwe and then re-sell locally, undercutting Zambian producers.

But the Zambian government has introduced duties to protect its local industries.

Zambia's commerce minister Bates Namuyamba said all imports from Zimbabwe would be valued on Zimbabwe's black market exchange rate as opposed to the official exchange rate.

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Zimbabwe Mirror


Confusion reigns over proposed land audit
Tawanda Majoni

SHARP confusion has followed the announcement by President Robert Mugabe at
the recently ended Zanu PF annual people's conference that he would
personally initiate an inspectorate to determine how land was allocated
during the fast track land redistribution programme, at a time a government
land audit team is ostensibly yet to complete its task.

At the conference, President Mugabe said he would personally see to it that
a land team from his office would get on the ground to assess how land had
been allocated during the fast track exercise, amid growing outcries of
favouritism and unprofessionalism by the land committees tasked to allocate
land.

In his speech, Mugabe acknowledged that he had received complaints of
bungling in land allocation.

"As this Conference gets underway, it will be necessary for us to review our
land reform programme and establish where the process still needs
strengthening, for as we have celebrated our progress, we have also heard
disapproval of and dissatisfaction with certain elements of the programme,
especially the A2 Model," said Mugabe.

Analysts see the announcement of the new land allocation assessment team,
whose task is reported to commence in January, as public castigation of the
national land audit team falling under the National Land Committee, whose
chairman is Vice President Joseph Msika.

Contacted for comment, Msika told The Sunday Mirror that his team had not
yet completed its task. "We do not have a final position on the land audit,"
he said. Msika, who was not at the conference due to ill health, added that
he could not comment on the land inspectorate hinted at by Mugabe. "If you
want to know about that new team, ask the President himself since he is the
one who made the statement." The Minister of Land Reform, Flora Buka also
expressed discomfort over commenting on the mulled land inspectorate. She
acknowledged that the land audit team, which started its work in September,
was still compiling findings to present to the President.

"So far, we have covered seven provinces and we are left with the eighth and
final. We cannot do it now because of the festive (Christmas) season during
which people will be concentrating on other things," said Buka, adding that
work would resume in the first week of January next year.

Buka said her team had been tasked with assessing how the bulk acquisition
of land under the fast track programme had proceeded, consulting various
stakeholders including chiefs, district and provincial administrators, war
veterans, civil servants and council officials. The teams in the various
provinces, she said, collected documented evidence from those consulted.
Despite Msika's and Buka's insistence that the land audit is ongoing, some
commentators have hailed Mugabe's announcement of a fresh audit team. War
veterans, who spearheaded farm occupations, welcomed the President's
decision, pledging their co-operation.

Chairman of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association
(ZNLWVA), Patrick Nyaruwata said Mugabe's decision was a positive move that
would ensure a transparent and fair allocation of land to people.

"We welcome the new inquiry because it gives us hope that our problems are
going to be addressed once and for all. Land committees did a skewed job in
many ways and we are unhappy with them for failing to have positive interest
in the needs of the war veterans," said Nyaruwata.

Nyaruwata also delivered a broadside at the national land taskforce for
excluding representatives of ZNLWVA from its ranks, adding that he was
particularly unhappy with the use of the police in displacing settlers from
farms they would have occupied.

War veterans formed a team to do a parallel land audit when the government
announced its own, arguing that the interests of war veterans were not being
addressed by the national land taskforce.

Another war veterans leader, Joseph Chinotimba endorsed the mooted new
inquiry team and dismissed members of the current land audit, to which
ministers Joseph Made, Ignatius Chombo, Flora Buka and deputy speaker Olivia
Muchena are members, as a disgrace since they were involved in the initial
allocation of land.

Chinotimba said it would be improper to use the same people to do an inquiry
into how land had been allocated since they were the very "greedy" culprits
who had erred in the first place. "When a policeman steals something, do you
send the same detail to investigate himself?" queried Chinotimba.

He accused members of provincial land committees of corruption, nepotism and
cronyism.

Member of Parliament for Chinhoyi and Zanu PF provincial chairman for
Mashonaland West, Phillip Chiyangwa, whose province hosted the annual
conference, said the fact-finding team mulled by Mugabe should not be
construed as a replacement of the current land audit led by Chombo. He said
it was a presidential team motivated by protests that Mugabe was receiving
from various circles.

However, one analyst who insisted on anonymity said Chiyangwa's
interpretation of Mugabe's statement was incoherent. "There is no way in
which the President can initiate an inquiry into the land problem for his
sole consumption since the land question is a public one. It follows
therefore that, despite the inquiry team coming from Mugabe's office, its
mandate is a national one," he said.

Since the beginning of the fast track programme, high ranking government
officials have been reported to have used their influential positions to
obtain land for themselves, friends and relatives at the expense of the
intended beneficiaries.

Ministers and provincial governors have caused a stir amid media reports
that they had obtained multiple farms for themselves while receiving
kickbacks to forestall the listing and acquisition of certain farms.

Midlands, Mashonaland Central and Mashonaland West provinces received the
sharpest criticism for corrupt land allocation. In the Midlands province,
ruling party have been accused of denying the majority landless blacks a
chance to own land by protecting white commercial farmers.

The provincial leadership allegedly frustrated the designation of most of
the white owned farms after the farmers approached them to prevent the
acquisition of their pieces of land. They reportedly dished out certificates
of no present interest to acquire the farms. Consequently, sources say, the
Midlands has come out as the province with the most minimal resettlement of
new farmers. Ian Douglas Smith, the former Rhodesian Prime Minister who in
the 1970s vowed that this country would never be ruled by blacks, still
keeps his sprawling Gwenhoro ranch. At one time furious blacks showed their
disapproval of Smith's continued ownership of the farm by invading it. They
were later removed. Efforts to contact Cephas Msipa, the provincial
governor, were fruitless.

Mugabe was reportedly angry over the Midlands report on the allocation of
land in the province. In an earlier interview, Buka admitted that she had
received numerous complaints in the province, adding that after the
completion of the audit, her team would make recommendations on how the
situation could be dealt with. Chombo, like other provincial authorities,
was named in various media reports as having acquired a number of farms for
himself and his close relatives, while Elliot Manyika admitted to The Sunday
Mirror to owning a farm more than the stipulated maximum farm size in
Mashonaland Central.

Skewed land distribution patterns such as the one in the Midlands, critics
say, caused unnecessary pressure on other provinces as applicants wishing to
be resettled poured into those provinces.

Chiyangwa expressed his bitterness over the influx of outsiders into his
region. "I am particularly incensed at the fact that most of the land in my
province has been claimed by outsiders," he said. About 3 000 land hungry
villagers from Gutu district alone are said to have besieged Mashonaland
West in search of land.
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National Social Security Authority to Hike Contributions



The Herald (Harare)

December 21, 2002
Posted to the web December 23, 2002

Harare

The National Social Security Authority will next month increase individual
contributions from $210 to $360 per month to cushion retirees and survivors.

The insurable earnings ceiling for the pension and other benefits scheme
will also be increased from $7 000 to $12 000 per month.

NSSA has already informed employers and employees of this development.

"What this means is that an employee who was at the ceiling of $7 000 and
contributing $210 per month will now contribute $360 per month if the
monthly salary or wage is $12 000 or more per month," said a NSSA official.

The increases means NSSA would charge 3 percent of $12 000.

The official said those earning less than $12 000 per month would contribute
3 percent of whatever their gross salary or wage is.

The authority is planning another increase of the insurable earnings ceiling
from $12 000 to $18 000 in July next year.

NSSA was already looking for actuaries to evaluate the scheme to establish
how best further increases to benefits could be funded.

Benefits payable, which are funeral grant, invalidity, retirement and
survivors' pension, would be increased by 50 percent also starting in
January.

The amount one would receive from these benefits would depend on their
contributions, taking into consideration the number of years the money was
contributed.

"Other grants, that is invalidity, retirement and survivors, will increase
by the rate arrived at by applying the new high insurable earnings ceiling,"
said the official.

"These increases, though small, are meant to cushion retirees and
survivors."

NSSA is being criticised for offering retirement and survivors' pensions
that were a pittance, resulting in the dream of financial security after the
retirement of a worker or death of a breadwinner turning out to be
short-lived.

Some pensions are being pegged at as low as $150 per month.

NSSA was formed by an Act of Parliament in 1994 initially to provide social
security to workers in the private sector.

It has since extended the service to the country's 130 000 civil servants.
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The World Cup can do some good for Zimbabwe's people

Tanya Aldred
Monday December 23, 2002
The Guardian

In a hot dusty schoolyard seven small boys sit on the ground under the huge
arms of an old tree waiting to bat. They are 20 minutes by car from Harare's
centre but a million miles from such gleaming glitter. They inhabit
townships haunted by Aids and where resources are so scarce that sometimes
cricket has to be played with a stick and a ball of paper.
But it is cricket that they love and it is from these children that the
future of Zimbabwe's cricket lies, in players like Hamilton Masakadza and
Tatenda Taibu.

The International Cricket Council's decree last Thursday now means that
these boys will get a chance to see a World Cup game. Barring a player
boycott, unlikely with leaders like the England and Wales Cricket Board
defending their decision to go ahead on the basis of the business activities
there of those moral guardians Barclays and BP, the Zimbabwe leg of the
eighth World Cup will kick off on February 10.

The Zimbabwe Cricket Union, headed by the honourable election-rigger and
worse Robert Mugabe, will play host to Australia, England, Pakistan, India,
Holland and Namibia.

The only glimmer of hope in the whole murky moral maze is that the
tournament will give cricket in Zimbabwe a much needed shot of inspiration:
that big-name players are taken to the townships for coaching sessions; that
the crowds, hardly bulging for England's last tour in October 2001, are huge
and scattered with more than half-a-dozen black faces.

It must be hoped too that there is no repetition of the recent incident when
a member of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change was arrested at
the fourth one-day international against Pakistan at Harare for giving out
material calling for a boycott of Zimbabwe's World Cup games. When he was
released the police issued a statement saying it was "suspicious for blacks
to watch a white man's game".

World Cups are the administrator's favourite tool of development. They bring
in piles of money, investment, infrastructure and media coverage for the
hosts. They can, except when the home country charges head first into the
buffers like England in 1999, inspire the nation.

And the cricket World Cup has grown up a lot since the days when the MCC
kept its white hands tightly round the neck of the first three tournaments,
not letting go until 1987-88 to India and Pakistan. Australia and New
Zealand, Sri Lanka, Scotland, Ireland and Holland have gone on to host
matches. In 2006 it will be West Indies' turn. And this time Kenya and now
Zimbabwe will join South Africa in the first African World Cup.

Unlike individual sports like swimming, or muscle sports like rugby, in
cricket the minnow can cause an upset - and not always aided and abetted by
the bookmaker. The favourite can underestimate the opposition and be
out-thought.

In the 1983 World Cup Zimbabwe, in their first ever one-day international,
beat a cock-sure Australia of Allan Border, Rodney Marsh, Geoff Lawson,
Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson. They are yet to repeat the feat but until
recently held rather a large mojo over England. In subsequent World Cups
Kenya and Bangladesh have followed suit to national rejoicing. After
Bangladesh's somewhat interesting win over Pakistan in 1999 Northampton's
County Ground took on the look of the Mall on VE day Dhaka-style.

If moral guidance and national interest are fading in this country, we do at
least produce conduits of development. Bob Woolmer left Warwickshire last
summer to become the ICC's high-performance manager, charged with overseeing
the development of the emerging nations. And Dougie Brown, that
corkscrew-haired Scot who played nine one-day internationals for England, is
at the moment coaching Namibia, who won two one-day matches against Zimbabwe
A this autumn.

"I just feel very privileged to be a part of things here at the moment," he
told the Cricketer magazine. "Playing in the World Cup and getting so much
more coverage for cricket in their home media, is vital for the future
development of the game in countries like this,"

The ICC must cross its fingers that Zimbabwe cricket gets more from this
increase in media coverage, national and international, than Mugabe. The
jury is, nervously, out.
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Herald

Fuel blues to spill into Christmas holiday

Herald Reporter
THE fuel crisis in the country is now certain to spill into the Christmas
holiday amid revelations that the 910 000 litres of petrol expected to have
been released by the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe yesterday had not been
delivered to filling stations by late afternoon.

A check in major cities and towns showed that the situation was still
desperate with supplies of petrol and diesel delivered over the weekend
having run out at most service stations.

Long and winding queues formed at the few service stations selling petrol
and diesel supplies delivered on Sunday and those service stations expecting
supplies.

Noczim released close to three million litres of petrol on Saturday and
Sunday countrywide.

"There is no fuel but we read in the paper that Noczim would be releasing
910 000 litres of fuel today.

"This filling station will always get an allocation,'' said a motorist, Mr
Daniel Mamvura who had left his car at Engen Service Station along Fourth
Street.

Petrol attendants attributed the long queues to the long period that
motorists had experienced without fuel supplies.

"Even though filling stations have been selling fuel for the past two days
following the release of a significant amount, we need to keep on selling it
for some days if the situation is to return to normal.

"Some of these people in the queue only got fuel for the first time after
waiting for more than a week and it is not enough for their needs," said a
petrol attendant at a city filling station.

Tempers flared at a Caltex filling station along Glen Eagles Road when
petrol attendants declared that there was no more fuel after filling up only
25 vehicles.

"Something strange is going on because we were there when the tanker
offloaded the fuel only to be told that it was finished after a few cars
were filled up.

"These are the same people selling the commodity at black market prices at
Green Trees and the police should do something about them," a motorist who
declined to be identified said.

Coupon holders were able to fill up their tanks at a Hatfield filling
station with no problems at all.

The situation was also desperate in Bulawayo, Masvingo, Gweru, Mutare,
Chinhoyi and Kadoma, where both petrol and diesel were coming in trickles.

Noczim released at least 1,8 million litres of petrol on Saturday as well as
935 000 litres on Sunday.

A further 220 000 litres were distributed in Beitbridge and Bulawayo.
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IRELAND:
FARM FOR LEASE IN SOUTHERN IRELAND
Attractive proposition for a Zimbabwean farmer to lease with the long term
possibility of buying the farm.  The farm is in Southern Ireland
approximately 100kms from the capital city. The location of the farm is
very scenic, peaceful and quiet and approx 3 kms from the nearest town. Any
interested parties looking at relocating pls contact 011 406 750 or
mawmac@mweb.co.zw for further


THE COMORES:
1. The French Government is anxious to help farmers with EU (ie UK, Dutch
etc) nationality to settle in Mayotte, Comoros Islands (off the coast of
Mozambique). Mayotte is a Departement of France and so stable and law
abiding. Offered are tax rebates, cheap loans etc. More information from
the French Embassy in Harare, I understand.


SOUTH AFRICA:
 Farm Manager required for Export Crops to be grown eastof Johannesburg.
Aid assisted project. Commission on production. Very good terms.
Contact Tel/Fax 263 4 303182 cork@zol.co.zw


SOUTH AFRICA:
Position offered as Manager on Sheep Farm, South Africa We are looking for
a farmer to manage a sheep farm in the North Western Cape. The area is
quiet and peaceful. Please phone Mrs. Van Dyk on 0027-16-9822169


SOUTH AFRICA:
Two people in South Africa have manager positions on their farms vacant and
are willing to keep these positions open for two Zimbabwe farmers who lost
their farms. If interested please contact: Mr de Villiers (012) 361 7703
(after hours) (012) 315 7556 (at work)


SOUTH AFRICA:
I am looking for someone to handle my premium brand of German manufactured
Homeopathic remedies (approx. 100 different items covering virtually any
ailment). The Dr Reckeweg & Co brand has been available in South Africa for
15 years and is sold in over 40 countries around the world. Is there
someone out there who would like to represent us in Natal. Calls would
include Pharmacies, Health Shops, Doctors and Homeopaths. Earnings would be
as a percentage of sales (10%).
Contact John J.B. Smithers Dr.Reckeweg & Co. S.A
Tel: +27 11 447-3222 Fax: +27 11 447-7846


SOUTH AFRICA:
Our company is a sawmilling, forestry and farming operation in Stutterheim,
Eastern Cape, RSA.  We recently acquired some extensive land for cattle
farming and with this, "inherited" some 40ha of irrigable land on the Kei
River, with unlimited water and high heat units.  This area can be
expanded. There are vacant houses adjacent to the irrigable areas which are
not utilized for cattle farming operations. We're looking to employ someone
with crop farming/irrigation experience to develop this land and would
consider some form of share scheme. No crops are established, there is
currently no business going on with the irrigable areas and we need an
experienced person to advise what best would be suited for the area and its
potential markets. Capital is not a constraint.
Contact John Rance at jcrance@rancetimber.co.za.
Tel: 27 43 6837330 fax: 27 43 6837208.  For a Zim reference on our company,
contact Basil Kinsey, or Bob White, or Graham Hingeston, or Tim/Trish
Broderick in Harare, or Peter Hingeston in Triangle.


SOUTH AFRICA:
Farming Opportunity in SA My family has a farm in Lowveld (Nelspruit),
which was once regarded as the best tobacco ground in the lowveld. We would
love to offer the land to evicted land owners from Zimbabwe, to use and
restore their lives again. Please could you let me know if you know of
people that would be interested!!?? My uncle up in the northern province
can be contacted regarding this matter. Dennis Traynor +27 15 295 9247.


SOUTH AFRICA:
We have a farm in the Eastern Tvl between Machadodorp and Nelspruit.Fairly
remote on 5000 hectars it is used for running a few cattle plus horses
where we take clients on rides and as an outward bound area for school
children. There are two houses with all elect water etc should you have
someone who might like to move there they are available.There are numerous
other facilities plus 25 odd km of the Crocodile river. The offer is to
some self motivating people on a partnership basis.If they need set up
costs these can all be negotiated. Should you have any takers cud you email
Tony North at tn@earthport.co.za


SOUTH AFRICA:
 We have a 24 roomed Portfolio guesthouse and restaurant in the beautiful
peaceful Eastern Free state area on the Lesotho border, and we are looking
for a chef and / or a management couple to live in and help run the
guesthouse. Preferably no young children and previous experience preferable
too. Please send CV to this email address: info@raindrops.co.za. The
guesthouse website is www.cranberrycottage.co.za. Many thanks Bev Missing


SOUTH AFRICA:
CARETAKER/MANAGER.
A vacancy exists for the position of caretaker/manager for a luxury
apartment complex comprising of 143 units in garden surroundings. The
location is Umhlanga Rocks.  The successful applicant will be a mature
person with primarily practical abilities and able to instruct and
supervise a staff of 25 in the fields of general maintenance, gardening,
cleaning and security.  The candidate should also have basic managerial
skills.  A one bedroom apartment is provided in the complex and the
applicant must be prepared to live on the premises.
Please apply in writing, enclosing a CV to Mrs Hicks of Attlee Agency cc at
the following: P.O. Box 233 Umhlanga Rocks, 4320 South Africa.
Tel: + 27 031 5611371 Fax: + 27 031 5615484


SOUTH AFRICA:
 I know of someone in RSA who is looking for a Zimbabwean couple to
caretake a plot in Potgietersrus.  If you know of anyone who may be
interested you can contact Nicola on msahome@iafrica.com Regards Debbie
DuPlessis


ZAMBIA:
FARM MANAGER required for large mixed farm close to Lusaka.  A mechanical
background would be advantageous. Mature man with no school going
dependants preferred. Relevant qualifications and experience are essential.
The position offers expatriate employment conditions and usual farm
benefits. Please apply to khazna@africaonline.co.zw


ZAMBIA:
For sale aprox 25 acres largely cleared land in Leopards Hill, Lusaka.
Location is in the elite area of Lusaka (New Kasama) and in close proximity
to the facilities of the eastern side of the town including the American
School. Some dambo area.  Mostly tarred road into town. Buyer might
consider for horticulture as roses are grown successfully in the adjacent
property. Price US $ 25,000.  Would consider
subdivision and sale of 10 acres. Please contact Jacqui at
zinongo@iinet.net.au
Phone + 61 (8) 9335 4227


MOZAMBIQUE:
Position available in Mozambique. Applicant should be experienced in
Horticulture or be prepared to learn. This is a management position and has
good prospects for the future. Property is already operating. House is
being built and the usual perks etc. go with the position as well as a
forex package. .Phone:Harare 490583


ZIMBABWE:

BEITBRIDGE: We have a position that would suit a couple - he in a
management position at Beitbridge and she running a small stationary
business. Flat provided. Schooling in Messina if Zim. Private schools not
on. They can contact me at Bulawayo 240093. Eddie Cross


LOWVELD: Couple required by Country Motel in Lowveld. Wife to manage
accounts and husband to do anything and everything to do with maintenance
and labour management.  Suite mature couple with experience of running
their own business.  Please contact on:- leemotel@mweb.co.zw


HARARE: Harare based company looking for someone to manage their security
section. Suit farmer with Police / security company experience. Phone Mel
(011) 604 009 mkenchington@dulux.co.zw


HARARE:
WANTED - Full time Personal Secretary/Assistant for busy Harare based
accounting and secretarial practice. Must be proficient in Microsoft Word,
Excel and Outlook and have general all round computing skills. Shorthand
not essential. Position involves general typing, client liaison, diary and
appointment keeping, stationery control, letter dictation, some staff
supervision. Previous experience with the Registrar of Companies Office
would be an advantage.
Salary and conditions of service negotiable and dependant upon
qualification and experience. Contact Miss Amanda Jones, 793107/8; 706959,
736281 or email lemacc@africaonline.co.zw or fax 736324.


MUTARE:
AN URGENT POSITION EXISTS WITHIN COLBRO TRANSPORT IN OUR
INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTRE A workshop manager, to be based in Mutare
starting immediately. To run small workshop, stores, fuel stocks, tyres and
labour. Incumbent to have management skills and be able to lead and
supervise a competent team of artisans and ancillary workers.  Our work is
with International Trucks, therefore a mechanical knowledge is essential.

Also workshop admin, job cards, invoicing and payroll knowledge is
necessary. The Workshop Manager is to adher to and practice the Colbro
principals of accounting (based on ISO), human resources management,
workshop practices, stores control and customer relations.  A further
requirement is to ensure the production of good quality work within a
reasonable time frame. Training and assistance will be given to the correct
person to ensure full awareness of our quality and systems. Salary is
negotiable, dependant on experience and knowledge. Any interested persons
are to please contact Bob Collett on Cell phone no: 091 200 519 or e-mail
us on rcollett@mweb.co.zw with CVs, questions and a contact telephone
number.


CHIPINGE:
COFFEE FARM TO MANAGE OR LEASE Manager required or suitable lease agreement
can be arranged for a Coffee Farm situated in Chipinge to start from
January 2003.  Must have experience in coffee farming (80 ha).  Preferably
with no dependants.  Usual farm perks plus good salary, bonus and medical
aid offered to the right person. Please email C.V. to 616010@ecoweb.co.zw


HARARE:
Wanted Immediately: Farm Manager to manage 2 ha roses 10km west of Harare
and a 10 ha paprika/20 ha tobacco (agronomy and industrial) project with
EPZ status on Shamva road 30 kms east of Harare. Ideal for a farmer already
residing in Harare with experience in the above fields. Excellent salary
prospects forex linked - successful experience essential. Please send or
drop off C.V.'s at 11 Clarence Drive, Newlands. Phone 091237411 Interviews
will be arranged to suit candidates. Best wishes Peter Dobson


HARARE:
COLBRO TRANSPORT - VARIOUS VACANCIES Transport Investment Opportunity TO
ANY INTERESTED FARMERS Opportunity for Business Investment in Transport
Industry with Colbro Transport: There exists an opportunity of investing in
transport by purchasing sections of 10 to 20 complete rigs along with a
franchise to run for Procon RSA, on all routes run by Colbro.

Advantages being you walk into 100% organised fleet, drivers, maintenance,
fuel, tyres, contracts etc. Any interest: Please contact Bob Collett on 091
200 519

Transport Controller Vacancy exists with Colbro Transport for less
qualified energetic transport controller to handle daily operations and
drivers, certain "out of town" travelling needed.


KARIBA:
Vacancy exists for couple in Kariba - lady to run books with other
management responsibilities at Kariba Marina.  Gent to manage and maintain
boats, big and small as well as other management duties.


HARARE:
A possibility for couple to run a procurement business in Harare for Kariba
and surrounding areas - preferably a farmer who has a 7 ton truck to enter
into a partnership. Any interested party to contact: Bob Collett - 091 200
519 Bernice Wilde - 091 314 353 or 757295.


HARARE:
Small photographic safari company needing a bookkeeper/secretary for
mornings only in a Borrowdale suburb, Harare office. Must be familiar with
Quick Books and Windows. Tourism/travel agency/people skills preferable as
will be attending to safari bookings. Please call James on 091 369 294 or
04 861766 or email natureways@zol.co.zw . Package to be discussed. Thank
you very much James Varden. Natureways Canoe Trails (Pvt) Ltd Specialists
in Canoeing & Walking Trails and Tented Camps - Mana Pools - Zimbabwe 160
Gaydon Road, Borrowdale, Harare, Zimbabwe PO Box BW1714.
Phone/fax: (263-4) 861766 Cell: (263-91) 320 648
Email: natureways@zol.co.zw Web site: www.natureways.co.zw


HARARE:
My name is Rick Summers and I am the Chairman of the Harare SPCA.  We are
try to find a suitable person to fill the post of General Manager which has
been vacant for some time and to date have not been able to find the right
person. This is a permanent position.  It is a very challenging position
but also most rewarding.  It is not for the faint hearted and is not an 8
to 5, 5 days a week job.
This is a busy position, the core of which is the promotion of Animal
Welfare in the Harare/Chitungwiza area for a radius of 50 kms.

The job principally involves:
1.  responding to reports about animal neglect, abuse and cruelty.
2.  supervising Animal Welfare Inspectors, Veterinary Surgeons and
kennel-hands caring for the animals in SPCA custody
3.  controlling the Society's finances and assets
4.  promoting the work of the SPCA to the public, both local and
international
5.  co-ordinating the contributions of the stakeholders many of whom are
subscribing members of the Harare Society

These are very broad parameters.
The person:
1.  likes animals, abhors cruelty
2 has a basic grasp of legal issues pertaining to animal
welfare(advantage).
3.  well versed in managing labour
4.  is tactful and level headed. There are times when you will be dealing
with very emotional people and disturbing situations.
If you feel you have what it takes then please: e-mail me on
summersr@paprika.co.zw phone 04 487637 mobile 091 232 223 for further
information.  If you need more information re the position please do not
hesitate to contact me.


NORTON:
GENERAL MANAGER - we are looking for a Farm Manager for a cereal/row crop
farm near Norton.  Must have an agricultural diploma/degree and at least 7
years' cropping experience.  Knowledge of cattle will be advantageous, as
will tobacco experience.  Write sending CV and contact details, together
with details of present and required salary to The Company Secretary, P O
Box WGT 10, WESTGATE, Harare or e-mail to anne@kencor.co.zw.


GWEBI:
FARM ACCOUNTANT.  At least 10 years experience and able to prepare and
present Monthly Management Accounts. Do books for 2 farms, stock schedules,
debtors/creditors, wages etc. Write sending CV and contact details,
together with details of present and required salary to The Company
Secretary, P O Box WGT 10, WESTGATE, Harare or e-mail to anne@kencor.co.zw.


HARARE:
Business in Harare looking for secretary/bookeeper in agricultural based
operation. Experience in Computers and Pastel bookeeping necessary. Job in
a busy environment with an attractive salary being offered. Looking for
suitable encumbant to start asap. Please contact on the below address.
Farmers wife would be good! Contact - sales@maguires.biz


AUSTRALIA:
Lynnford Stephenson, grandson of Don Stephenson - ex-Salisbury Tobacco
Floors - is now an IT consultant in Brisbane, Australia. He is always on
the look-out for software specialists and believes that there may be such
people within farming families in Zimbabwe who could resettle in Oz
(Lynnford arranges Residence Permits) and then in due course send for their
families. More gen from Lynnford at: Scott-Merrick Associates, Level 6
Northpoint Building, 231 North Quay, BRISBANE, Qld 4000, Australia.
e-mail Lynnford@scott-merrick.com.au


UKRAINE:
I should explain that my company Britanica is mainly British owned and is
engaged in the import and manufacturing of consumer products for onward
sale in Ukraine and other countries of the former Soviet Union.  The
business has been established for more than eight years and is profitable.

I was in touch with Derrick Arlett-Johnson of the Zimbawe Farmers Trust
earlier this year about an opportunity which had arisen for my company to
acquire a substantial parcel of high quality land in Ukraine at a very good
price. ( 17,000 acres ). The opportunity had arisen following a
Presidential decree permitting private ownership of land. My partners and I
have no knowledge of agriculture but are well experienced in the ways of
doing business in the former Soviet Union.  We were working with other
British parties interested joining with us in investment. We considered it
to be wortwhile investigating the possibility of bringing on board a
dispossessed farmer from Zimbabwe who had knowledge of working a large
holding.

The earlier deal was abandoned when the Presidential decree permitting
private ownership of land was overturned by the Ukraine Parliament.
Presently there is a moratorium. Land acquired under the Presidential
decree remains in private ownership but no new sales are permitted and land
which had been acquired by private buyers cannot be sold on until there is
a new legislation. However the lease of land for a period of less than 50
years is not proscribed.

Now a new opportunity has arisen. There are two agricultural holdings which
have fallen into disuse which could be available to rent. One is some 4000
acres the other much larger. The lease would be for 49 years. The suggested
rent is $8 per acre per year. I suspect a lower figure can be negotiated.
The quality of land is high - more than 1 metre deep of black alluvial
soil.  The smaller unit has no equipment. The larger unit comes complete
with Soviet style equipment. We would be dealing with the lead creditor
which is the local authority. We are looking for someone experienced in
farming on a large scale with whom we can explore the possibility of
creating a profitable unit with a view to an eventual sale at a premium,
hopefully after acquiring the freehold. My partnersand I have no knowledge
of agriculture but are well experienced in the ways of doing business in
the former Soviet Union.  We were working with other British parties
interested joining with us in investment. We considered it to be wortwhile
investigating the possibility of bringing on board a dispossessed farmer
from Zimbabwe who had knowledge of working a large holding.

We have funds available but expect the project would require us to look for
an additional capital injection. We are not expecting the farmer who joins
us to make a financial investment.

Life in Ukraine is tough but I am sure nothing like Zimbabwe under Mugabe.
There is a small Western / British Community. People here are generally
very friendly, especially to anyone willing to commit themselves to getting
something worthwhile off the ground.  Language will not be a problem.

The workforce is generally well educated, technically competent but usually
lacking any understanding of business. If we can be pointed to someone
suitable, it is highly likely there can be a positive outcome. Kind
regards, Robert Tyldesley.  robert@britanica.com.lg.ua


LONDON U.K.
If anyone knows of anyone from Zimbabwe who would like a job. This might
assist. I am the Chairman of the freehold company which runs the estate
where I live. It is on the Isle of Dogs, in the docklands area of London.
It is a private development consisting of 407 flats, called Burrells Wharf.
Currently we are looking for staff to recruit the following vacancies:
1. An office receptionist working 5 days per week 1400hrs to 2000hrs salary
£11,000.
2. A handy person working 5 days per week 1600hrs to 2000hrs salary £7,000 pa
3. A member of the night staff working 12 hour shifts 1900hrs to 0700hrs
£18,000pa
For more details contact the estate office on 0207 538 2581 or e-mail:
eoffice@burrellswharf.com


UGANDA:
email: asha101@hotmail.com telephone: 25677622467 message: We are sorry
for all what's happening in your country but we are praying that
everything you have worked for all your lives should come back to you.
We are conserned Ugandans who wish to introduce to you an opportunity of
investing in a non violent country where you will have a piece at heart.
We have around five(5) miles in southwestern Uganda(Kibale District)
where land is very fertile. It needs people like you who have experince
in large scale farming to come and cultivate it. For details don't
hesitate to contact us.


BOTSWANA:
A Safari compnay in Botswana is currently looking ofr the following;
1 - mechanic with drivers licence
2- tracker skinner
3- 4 honest general farm labourers hard working with cattle experince
All would be applicants to have traceable refs current passports and ant to
live away from their families for a 2 year contract. Normal leave and
conditions and good pay for the right people. Please write to: The Manager
active solutions P.O. Box 696 Gaberone Botswana


BOTSWANA:
Major Beef Production farm situated in the Molopo region of West Central
Botswana has three (3) vacancies:
Feedlot Manager (x 1)
Thorough knowledge of Beef Production & Monitoring Good Management skills &
Stock Control Self disciplined, High Initiative, Motivated self starter
Mechanical knowledge of farm implements i.e. Trucks, Tractors, Borehole
equipment etc. Exceptional Animal Husbandry knowledge & extensive hands on
experience Disease diagnostic & Treatment ability

Assistant Farm Managers (x 2)
Thorough knowledge of Beef Production & Monitoring Unquestionable ranching
knowledge across all areas Artificial insemination knowledge & hands on
experience Mechanical knowledge of farm implements i.e. Trucks, Tractors,
Borehole equipment etc. Exceptional Animal Husbandry knowledge & extensive
hands on experience Disease diagnostic & Treatment ability

Remuneration Highly Negotiable Housing Transport Performance Bonus Leave
Medical Food Ration Contact Person: Richard Miles P.O. Box 602195,
Gaborone, Botswana Telephone: +267 71 302215 (cell)
+267 3911458 (office hours)
+267 3931771
Fax: +267 3908617 +267 3931789


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JUSTICE FOR AGRICULTURE CHRISTMAS COMMUNIQUE
DECEMBER 23, 2002
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Although the situation on farms and in the country in general is far worse
than ever before and deteriorating on a daily basis, one has to assess this
from a positive standpoint, in that things are being brought rapidly to a
head.

The situation "behind the scenes" is definitely more promising.  Loss of
the traditional financial support structures and crutches: the DRC campaign
and the looting thereof; the nefarious Libyan barter deals and even certain
infamous supporting and collaborating personalities who are now on the run
out of here, has focused dependency on our Southern neighbour and this is
intensifying daily.  Huge pressure is being brought to bear on SA and other
SADC countries to sort out the Zimbabwe problem if their ambitious
aspirations for Nepad and the AU are to be heard let alone embarked on.
Realisation has come home to roost that Zimbabwe, primarily because of its
historic agricultural production success in feeding Southern Africa, is
more pivotal in the sub regional scheme of things than previously realised.
A total loss and meltdown here will have cataclysmic ramifications
regionally and indefinitely!  SA, to date, has lost considerably more than
Zimbabwe on the back of this madness and very obviously stands to lose the
most in the event of continuation to total loss and total meltdown.

In light of the above, now is not the time for rash decisions based on the
situation prevailing on the ground, but rather cautious optimism.
Certainly the situation we are in is not sustainable, least of all for the
"powers that be" and possibly for the first time we are in a stronger
position, than they are, to sustain and survive the outcome.  Hold on tight
especially to your Title Deeds but don't hold your breath - a sigh of relief
might be the order of the day within the foreseeable future.

The JAG office will be closed from TUESDAY 24th until JANUARY 2nd.
However the JAG hotlines and email addresses listed below will be manned
and monitored at all times throughout this period for anyone in need of
help or assistance - or just to exchange Christmas cheer.

May I take this opportunity on behalf of Justice for Agriculture and the
JAG Team to wish you all and your families a peaceful and happy Christmas
and the best of wishes for the coming year: may it herald a new beginning
with meaningful resolutions for all.


JOHN WORSLEY WORSWICK
VICE CHAIRMAN


HOTLINE NUMBERS:

D Connolly: 011 431 068
J Worsley Worswick 011 612 595
P Worsley Worswick 011 205 374
W Hart 011 207 860
B Freeth 011 863 354
P Goosen 011 420 709
e-mail: justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
justice@telco.co.zw


OPEN LETTER FORUM
LETTER 1 AUTHOR: BEN FREETH

OF CHRISTMAS, THE REVOLUTION AND GENOCIDES IN ZIMBABWE

A wise historian once said to me "The only thing one learns from history
is that people do not learn from history". Someone has also said, "You
can do anything to a people who do not know their history".

In Zimbabwe today our very survival depends upon us learning from the past.
If we cannot face and understand the past, we will not be able to motivate
and organise ourselves for the future and our future will be one of
destruction and death.  The current situation is by no means lost or
hopeless but it takes a sincere heart to discern what is going on before
moral courage can be directed at sorting it out.

The history I wish to start with is almost exactly 100 years ago in 1903.
In this historic year Mr. Lenin, having grasped the teachings of Mr. Marx
established Bolshevism with 17 supporters. In 1917 he conquered Russia with
40 000 Bolsheviks.  By 1959, Lenin's party had conquered a billion people
proving itself to be the most successful movement - in terms of conquest-
that the world had ever seen.  It was during this period of history that
our present leaders of Zimbabwe went through their formative years and
learnt how it was done.  They spent years `over there' learning about the
party and the system and the philosophy.  If we do not take a bit of time
to do the same we are guilty of being like the dairy farmer who went bust:
he was interested in the milk but not in the cows.

How did Mr Lenin go about achieving this remarkable feat against such odds?
Mr Lenin used the teachings of Mr Marx and adapted them to his own
situation.  He promised the people two things that he knew they wanted:
peace and land.  In order to achieve this, he taught `revolution'.
Committees, called Soviets were formed to direct the revolution.  The
philosophy of communism dictates revolution to achieve it.  Mr Lenin's book
"The State of Revolution" is, apart from the bible, the world's most
translated book. Revolution had to happen.  It was a pre-requisite to
establish a system of power.  Its purpose was to utterly destroy the
constitution, the legislative system, the judicial system and the
administrative system - to wipe out the state and build a new one.

The revolution had to be violent.  Mr Lenin said that it was " the act
whereby one part of the population imposes its will on the other part by
means of rifles, bayonettes and cannons - it must maintain this rule by
means of the terror which its arms inspire." Again, he said, "The
suppression of the bourgeois state by the proletariat state is
impossible without violent revolution." Only by violent revolution and
terror could the necessary conditions be created to impose the party
system.  The conditions required are: chaos, unemployment, bitterness,
hunger and fear.

Mr Lenin promised land and peace in order to spark the revolution.  He
created land committees, which were known as `peasant committees'.  They
were made up of poor peasants - some motivated by idealism and others by
hatred.  Much of the committee was drafted from the criminal element in
Russian society. Their instructions were to seize the land, kill the
landlords and divide the estates among the peasants.  The land invasions
started, and in that first year, the peasants were able to grab the land.
However, at harvest time all crops were taken over by the State.  They were
not allowed to be owned or stored by the peasants that produced them and
the state confiscated them.  Famine inevitably ensued until, in 1921
private grain trading was again allowed in an apparent reversal of policy.
By 1928, however, the prosperous peasants were arrested, herded together
and sent to Siberia, or simply liquidated.  The poorer peasants had to
contribute all their land to collectivisation.  In 1931 in a very simple
operation Joseph Stalin, in order to ensure complete control used massive
starvation to stop any opposition to this programme.  He uplifted the
entire wheat crop from the Ukraine and dumped it in Western Europe.  That
winter alone, 7 million people starved to death.  Control was complete. The
land issue was solved.  Stalin remained in power until he died 22 years
later.

Mr Krushchev, who succeeded Stalin, had the audacity to state, of what has
to be the vilest man that ever lived - responsible for more death than any
other single man in the history of the world: "Stalin was a good man".
Indeed, Stalin in terms of the party, was quite truthfully, the best man
that ever existed.

Chinese Chairman Mao promised the people exactly the same things as Lenin:
land, and along with that the abolition of debt.  Who would refuse it?
Every country has land and every country has a minority of people owning
it.  Offer a valuable finite resource for free and you will always have
takers.  The land was parcelled out.  Mao gained power.  Mass communication
mediums were controlled.  The people were disarmed.  Freedom of movement
was stopped.  Public gatherings were made illegal. And when it came to
harvest time grain could only be reaped in the presence of a soldier.  The
people now hated the party, but they could only cower - leaderless and
weaponless.  Control a man's stomach and you control the man.  Control the
food supply and you control the population. Control the land and you
control the country.  South Africa, Namibia and all the other countries
supporting the Zimbabwean regime - in their stubborn refusal to take any
meaningful action against it, are keeping the land card up their sleeves
for exactly the same reasons Mr Mugabe has.

The moves of the party are mathematically predictable.  A cancer cell will
always obey the laws of its lawless growth.  The lawless land invasions,
the Chimurenga, the resulting starvation on proportions that the world has
rarely had to deal with ever before, are all part of an organised agenda
that has been seen many times before, and will be seen again in other
neighbouring African states if something isn't done soon.  To appease the
system is to feed it.  To talk to it is to become a collaborator with
genocide.  To practice quiet diplomacy is to procrastinate while more and
more people die.  Just as with cancer, the only way to deal with it is
through the surgeon's knife and radical treatment.

In Zimbabwe, it has all happened before of course.  The people were starved
out in 1983 in Matabeleland. Over 20 000 people died or were murdered in a
genocidal programme.  The rule of law was suspended.  The people were
beaten into submission while the world stood by and diplomatic relations
continued.  The party retained control and the world's ambivalence only
strengthened it.  The opposition were bought off and life went on with the
endless series of diplomatic cocktail parties and small talk.  "The Party"
got away with genocide with hardly an eyebrow being raised.

Nearly twenty years down the line the same party - with the same leader,
continues to hoodwink the diplomats living their cosy lives in town.
This time there are up to 8 million people who have had starvation
engineered for them by "their government".  It is important to look at
how this starvation has been planned and effected now in Zimbabwe today.
The number of people at risk through hunger has increased to well over
half of Zimbabwe's population. Many of them will die and are already
dying due to a deliberate genocidal policy aimed at complete control of
the population.

· The farmers that traditionally produced 50% of the country's maize and
over 90% of the country's wheat, soyabean, milk, eggs and commercial beef
have been violently driven off the land along with their workers.
· The main food commodities are controlled and have to be delivered to the
state- run Grain Marketing Board.  Even farmers keeping back food for their
workers have been criminalized.
· Police road-blocks have been set up to ensure that people cannot move
food crops to areas where people are starving.
· The state offered a sub-economic price regime for food crops so that
anyone who grows them will find their costs of production higher than the
marketed price for that commodity.
· Seed and fertilizer has been bought up by the state-run Grain Marketing
Board and is simply not available for purchase in the shops.
· The state promised free tillage on stolen properties for the invaders but
only has a handful of tractors which are all used up by the chefs and
settlers.
· Food crops have been "commandeered" just before harvest time and the
police condone this by their inaction.  In a number of cases, wheat and
barley were simply allowed to rot in the lands.
· Aid agencies wishing to bring in food have had to get licences to do so
and in some cases are prevented from bringing food in altogether.
· Individuals are not allowed to bring in more than 20kgs of maize meal
each when coming through the border.
· Party militia have been stationed to ensure farmers cannot bring their
workers food after having been driven off their farms
· Retailers have been forced to sell food at less than they are able to
procure it for, forcing them to stop selling many basic commodities.

Those people that accept the state propaganda that drought is the cause of
starvation need to think again.  Just in the last decade, in 1992 and 1995,
two severe droughts hit Zimbabwe.  Due to irrigation and organised
agriculture, famine has never been a reality except for the one engineered
by the party in 1983: when the army stopped food getting in to Matabeleland
during the N'Gukuruhundi.  The 2002 "drought" left the dams full to
irrigate from, but that water is still in them after wheat production was
cut by 70%.

Mr Mugabe continues to swan down to his ANC party colleagues in South
Africa, along with other communist party comrades from Cuba to China.  The
West, who, some time ago certified communism dead, do not appear to see the
same pattern re-emerging.  Zimbabwe's latest genocide plans are just the
start of something that could be a great deal bigger.  Is the world going
to continue to prevaricate in desperately trying to treat the symptoms of
this deathly disease, or is it going to resolutely sort out its cause?  A
lot of lives depend on an answer coming very, very soon.


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Independent (UK)

Bob Geldof: Let them know it's Christmas time. Again and again and again
24 December 2002


It was November, 1984. The spectre of famine stalked Africa. Images of
starving Ethiopians were in our living rooms, forcing us to watch their
terror and suffering. Governments had turned their backs but millions of
ordinary people had seen enough. The pop world expressed its anger and
desire for change in a song. "Do They Know it's Christmas?" went to No 1 and
stayed there for five weeks.

"Throw your arms around the world at Christmas time" they sang - and,
cornily enough, people did. Within a year, the Live Aid concert became not
only the biggest fundraising event in history but a highly effective
political lobby for change.

Two decades on, Africa's plight is nowhere near as bad as it was. It is
immeasurably worse. We are standing on the brink of what may prove to be the
greatest development disaster of modern times. True to form, governments
have reacted with all the strategic competence of rabbits caught in
headlights.

I am painfully aware of the boredom induced in people by me banging the same
old drum. But as we prepare for the indulgences of Christmas, more than 30
million Africans face the prospect of starvation. The world's poorest region
has become steadily poorer. Average incomes and nutritional standards are
lower than in the mid-1980s. Some 300 million people are living in extreme
poverty.

Unlike famine, this relentless poverty doesn't make it on to our television
screens. But it is one that claims the lives of 8,000 children each day from
poverty-related disease. And in our knowledge-based global economy, fewer
than half of Africa's children make it through primary school - guaranteeing
the transmission of poverty to the next generation.

So what has gone wrong? Seventeen years after Live Aid, why are we are
looking at another African disaster in the making? And why has so little
been done to prevent it? Some of the answers to these questions can be
traced to new problems. Back in 1984, none of us could have predicted the
scale of the HIV/Aids crisis.

Yet today, Africa accounts for three-quarters of all deaths associated with
the disease, with 25 million people currently infected. Beyond the immediate
suffering, HIV/Aids is placing strain on health and education systems, and
undermines the ability to earn a living.

Climate change also plays a part. In Ethiopia, the shortening of rainy
seasons and lengthening of dry spells has increased vulnerability to hunger.

African governments themselves have much to answer for. They are, in
general, fairly hopeless, but they also do not have the safety net of
relative prosperity that gives our own weak governments room to manoeuvre.
War, corruption and misgovernment continues to destroy countries and their
people. In southern Africa, to take the most blatant example, the
murderously lunatic government of Zimbabwe has helped engineer famine
conditions across the region.

I will not defend the indefensible in Africa but I'm increasingly angered
the way in which our governments use Africa's governance problems as a
smokescreen for obscuring their own failures. The insouciance or
indifference of Western political leaders is sleepwalking us to a terrible
conclusion. Our policies - which contribute to mass deaths - are a monstrous
and indescribably cruel crime of intent. Because we know it's happening, and
yet we bluster, obfuscate and delay. And, before our very eyes, humanity
diminishes and dies in its millions. It makes me sick.

I know how boring it is for people to see "Geldof crapping on again" and
frankly it's as boring for me, but I'm stuck with it. And despite it being a
cliché, I become viciously angry at this awful thing we do. All of us.

For years I have worked with Bono and Jubilee 2000 to release Africa from
the millstone of debt. Some advances have been made. Under the Heavily
Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, some 26 countries are now getting debt
relief. And in countries such as Tanzania and Uganda the savings are helping
finance education and health spending.

But half of the countries that have received debt relief are still paying
more than 15 per cent of government revenue to creditors. Zambia pays 30 per
cent more debt than it spends on health or basic education. Sub-Saharan
Africa is spending $40m a day on debt - money it literally does not have.
And yet according to the World Bank and the IMF Africa's debt is now
"sustainable". Nothing more needs to be done.

But what ethical or economic rationale is there for tolerating a situation
in which debt payments are keeping children out of school, restricting
spending on HIV/Aids and undermining prospects for economic recovery? The
entire issue of debt is economic sophist bollocks. We do not need the money.
It is utterly meaningless to the world economy. When an entire continent
populated by the poorest, hungriest, most wretched and most vulnerable
people on the planet are chained to lives of debt slavery, where are our
much-vaunted values of reason, liberty and justice?

No rationale from the tiresome ideologues of financial institutions can
justify that. There must be a total cancellation of debt. The terrible and
jarring truth is that not one single child in the north would be affected if
the whole debt were to be cancelled now.

The debt crisis has been exacerbated by declining commodity prices. Prices
received by African coffee farmers have fallen by half in the past three
years to a 30-year low. This has devastated many communities in Ethiopia,
which - along with failed land policies and the weather - has helped create
the conditions for mass hunger. Yet commodity prices, unlike the investment
rights and the intellectual property rights of transnational companies, do
not even figure on the agenda of the new round of talks at the World Trade
Organisation.

Some aspects of our trade policy simply defy credibility. Africans are told
by the World Bank and Western governments that they should be exporting more
agricultural products. Then they get hammered by our trade barriers and
agricultural subsidies, currently running at $300bn a year.

Take the 10 million West African households whose livelihoods depend on the
cultivation and export of cotton. In 2001, the United States, the world's
largest cotton exporter, spent $4bn subsidising its 25,000 cotton farmers.
This is more than the total national income of countries such as Burkina
Faso and Mali, whose farmers have to compete against American farmers. These
subsidies have lowered world prices by about one-quarter, costing West
Africa some $200m in lost foreign exchange and depriving households of
income needed for food, education and health spending.

President Bush likes to lecture African leaders about the benefits of free
trade and level playing fields in agriculture. Presumably this is the level
playfield that runs all the way downhill from the Texas cotton belt to
Burkina Faso. And precisely what free trade principle is it that pitches
some of the world's poorest farmers into competition with the world's
richest treasuries?

Europe is as bad. The EU exports wheat at two-thirds of what it actually
costs to produce and sugar at a mere quarter of the cost of production. At a
time when one fifth of the world's population lives on $1 a day, the average
EU cow gets $2.20 in a daily handout.

The Common Agricultural Policy costs you and me $40bn per annum - and forces
farmers in local markets in Africa to compete against cereals, dairy
products and sugar surpluses dumped courtesy of EU taxpayers. That's us -
and we share the responsibility. Don't like it? Then join with the
development agencies trying to force Europe and the US to accept an
international ban on agricultural export subsidies.

Like trade, our record on aid is lamentable. The first thing to state
categorically is that aid does work. It is not wasted. And if issues like
debt and trade were sorted then the benefits of aid would be exponential.

Yet aid transfers have fallen to record low levels.

Our governments have committed us to achieve goals in the worldwide
eradication of poverty by 2015. It means relatively little. Because when
2015 rolls round our leaders will shrug and say: "Oh well, tant pis. Let's
have new more realistic targets this time". To reach the agreements will
require the West spending $100bn a year; current spending is just half that.

Is any one trying to do anything about this? Well yes, to his great credit
Gordon Brown uniquely keeps plugging away. The Chancellor has attempted to
swing his counterparts behind a clever scheme to double spending by donors.
If he succeeds it will be a great triumph and a source of justifiable pride
for this country. We weren't wrong back in 1984. It wasn't a great song but
that was never the point. We wanted everyone to protest against the sheer
injustice. And they did. What it showed is governments can be swayed - and
policies changed - by strong arguments voiced by strong public movements.
The individual is not powerless in the face of monstrous human tragedy.

It is Christmas - a time when we notice the cold beggar more acutely, and
are more aware of friends who are ill, lonely or cold. We offer gestures of
love and friendship, even if it's just a pint at the pub, or a photocopied
arse at the office party.

We are better at Christmas. We try. So take that and enlarge it. Expand it,
and your imagination, to the millions elsewhere. Because you really are
capable of changing this crappy mean little world that does not really tell
the truth about us as human beings.

We really should feed them. We really should let them know it's Christmas.

Again. And again. And again.
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